Food Safety and Traceability Programs Branch - Service Standards
Our
Mandate
The Food Safety and Traceability Programs
Branch leads and coordinates voluntary traceability and Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Point (HACCP) strategies and programs from farm to fork. The branch develops
and delivers financial assistance programs for industry (i.e. Food Safety and
Traceability Initiative and Meat Plant Assistance Program); ensures province-wide
compliance, investigation and enforcement strategies and activities; and develops
communications promoting food safety.
Our Services
The
two main services provided by the Food Safety and Traceability Programs Branch
are:
Training & Education
The Food Safety Programs Unit, along
with the Traceability Programs Unit, all participate in training and education.
These three units develop materials and deliver expert advise and guidance on
a variety of topics pertaining to food safety and traceability. Staff are committed
to developing and delivering excellent quality materials to our agriculture producer
and food processing clients.
Training and education efforts focus on the
Advantage Series of Food Safety Programs™ including Advantage
Good Agricultural Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices, HACCP and HACCP+
programs, and a variety of practice specific materials. In addition, training
and education on the requirements of Growing Forward Programming, specifically
the Food Safety and Traceability Initiative, have been a focus this past year.
Compliance
& Enforcement
The Regulatory Compliance Unit (RCU) liaises with and
provides support to this ministry's regulatory programs for compliance actions
including administrative hearings. Hearing outcomes will result in an oral and/or
written decision and are issued to the hearing parties accordingly.
The
RCU is actively involved in compliance and enforcement initiatives that overlap
with other ministries and levels of government. The RCU maintains the link to
the Ministry of Natural Resources' Enforcement Branch for investigation and prosecution
services on behalf of OMAFRA. Cases referred for investigation often result in
news bulletins made available to media outlets and posted on the website.
Our
Service Principles
When we provide a service to
you, we are guided by three key principles which will help us to meet or exceed
your expectations.
- We are accountable to you and to the people
of Ontario. Programs and services will be delivered according to stated objectives
in a consistent manner. We respect your right to privacy and will treat information
with confidentiality.
- We are responsive to your needs. We will
provide accurate, high quality advice, guidance and information in a timely manner.
Information will be clear, up-to-date and easily accessible. We will be transparent
in our program guidelines and decision making processes
- We will be professional
in our interactions with you. Our programs will be delivered by knowledgeable
and competent staff. You will be treated with respect and courtesy.
Our
Service Standards
Training and Education:
- We
communicate the purpose of the training course to you.
- Training and education
programs meet stated learning objectives.
- Our trainers have the necessary
knowledge/skills to teach the program.
- Our trainers engage and have effective
presentation skills.
- Our trainers will treat you equitably, respectfully
and professionally.
- OMAFRA training and education materials are accurate,
relevant and up-to date.
- OMAFRA staff provide opportunity for you to give
feedback.
- Our programs meet training needs and provide relevant knowledge
and skills.
- The course registration process is convenient and easy to
use.
Compliance and Enforcement:
- The dissemination of
administrative hearing decisions will be provided in a timely manner.
Oral
Decisions
- Where an oral decision by the deputy director is available,
it will be provided to the respective parties prior to the close of a hearing.
-
A written confirmation of the oral decision will be provided to the respective
parties within one business day.
Written Decisions
- In
cases where volumes of evidence are presented, the deputy director may reserve
his/her decision and, after consultation and deliberation, issue the decision
in writing to the respective parties within 21 business days.
- In the event
of a delay, parties will be notified.
- The written decision will be posted
on the OMAFRA website within two business days of receipt and will be removed
from the website after 30 days.
Public notification through news
bulletins regarding enforcement outcomes will be provided in a timely manner.
-
An approved news bulletin will be made available within 10 business days of the
final court outcome.
- Retention schedules found on OMAFRA's website will
be maintained as necessary.
Annual Results
Results
for Training and Education
Comments:
Training and education
sessions cover topics pertaining to food safety, including Advantage Good
Agricultural Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices and HACCP.
By posting course outlines on the OMAFRA website we communicate the purpose of
our training and education courses 100 per cent of the time.
Between April
1, 2010 and March 31, 2011 94 participants in 8 sessions completed a standardized
evaluation. Participants are asked to evaluate training and education with respect
to the registration process, facilitation and effectiveness of training provided.
We ensured that staff provided an opportunity for clients to give feedback by
providing the evaluation to all participants after every session delivered.
Baseline results in 2010-2011 will be used to set targets for the coming year.
Results, including comments, from the evaluation will be used to improve registration
processes, content, delivery and effectiveness of future training and education
sessions.
Text
Equivalent
Results for Compliance and Enforcement
Dissemination
of Administrative Hearing Decisions
Comments:
The Regulatory
Compliance Unit tracks the number of business days taken to provide written confirmations
of oral decisions and written decisions of administrative hearings. A total of
7 hearings were held between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011. For these 7 hearings,
there were 4 written confirmations of oral decisions (average 4 days, desired
standard 1 day) and 7 written decisions (average 51 days, desired standard of
21 days) provided. Data was not collected in 2010-2011 for the posting of hearing
decisions on the OMAFRA website but will be reported in the future.
Standards
were not achieved because of a combination of factors including a shortage of
adjudicators to preside over the hearings and the length of time needed to write
up and approve decisions. The number of adjudicators has been tripled which will
improve our ability to meet the standards.
The results for 2010-2011 will
be used to develop a new standard to measure the percentage of instances the service
standards are met.
Text
Equivalent
Public Reporting of Enforcement Outcomes
Comments:
The
Regulatory Compliance Unit tracks the number of business days taken provide a
news bulletin regarding enforcement outcomes. A total of 11 bulletins were required
between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011.
Information is provided on a timely
basis from the investigations unit at the conclusion of court. Processing the
material can be delayed through communications branch while approvals and signoffs
are sought.
The results for 2010-2011 will be used for to develop a standard
that we will be measured as a percentage of time that we are able to meet the
agreed upon deadlines.
Text
Equivalent
Feedback/Complaints
We want
to provide the best service that we can and your feedback helps us to improve.
If you have comments, questions or concerns about our service we encourage you
to let us know. Please contact us by calling the Agricultural
Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or use the Feedback
Form or send an e-mail to ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca
